Campuses Able to Track Student Athlete Social Media Activity

Monitoring student-athlete social media activity just got easier for institutions that need to ensure their athletes' tweets and Facebook posts comply with campus policy.

Fieldhouse Media has launched FieldTrack, a Web-based social media monitoring platform. FieldTrack searches social media networks and blogs, in real time, looking for words and phrases that are in violation of a school's social media policy. The software tracks what athletes post as well as what's posted about them.

Institutions identify keywords for FieldTrack to search for in social media posts. If the system finds a keyword, it sends an alert to the institution for appropriate follow up. Campuses receive monthly reports showing the number of times keywords appeared and which words occurred most.

The issue of student-athlete social media activity made news again last month when the NCAA suspended Lehigh University wide receiver Ryan Spadola for using racial slurs in his Twitter posts. The incident led a number of colleges and universities to revisit their social media policies for student-athletes.

Fieldhouse Media educates student-athletes on the proper use of social media. FieldTrack is designed to serve as a complement to the education. For more information on or to sign up for FieldTrack, visit Fieldhouse Media's Web site.

About the Author

Kanoe Namahoe is online editor for 1105 Media's Education Group. She can be reached at knamahoe@1105media.com.